London, 1892. James Norbury, a shy would-be poet newly down
from Oxford, finds lodging with a charming young aristocrat. Through this new
friendship, he is introduced to the drawing rooms of high society, and finds
love in an unexpected quarter. Then, suddenly, he vanishes without a trace.
Unnerved, his sister, Charlotte, sets out from their crumbling country estate
determined to find him. In the sinister, labyrinthine city that greets her, she
uncovers a secret world at the margins populated by unforgettable characters: a
female rope walker turned vigilante, a street urchin with a deadly secret, and
the chilling “Doctor Knife.” But the answer to her brother’s disappearance
ultimately lies within the doors of one of the country’s preeminent and
mysterious institutions—The Aegolius Club, whose members include the most
ambitious, and most dangerous, men in England.

In her astonishing debut novel, Lauren Owen has created a
fantastical world of epic scope that is both beguiling and terrifying. The Quick will establish her as one of
fiction’s most dazzling talents.

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Quotes & Awards

A suspenseful, gloriously atmospheric first novel, and a feast of gothic storytelling that is impossible to resist.Kate Atkinson, bestselling author of Life After Life and Case Histories

A cracking good read . . . Owen takes the gothic conventions of the vampire novel in a refreshing new direction.Deborah Harkness, author of A Discovery of Witches and The Book of Life

Reading the blurbs on the dust jacket of Lauren Owen’s first novel—from such luminaries as Kate Atkinson, Hilary Mantel, and Tana French—readers might think they’re about to embark on a high-handed version of the Gothic novel, full of metafictions and literary allusions. These do appear, along with some beautiful language, but by Page 100, when the first neck is about to be bitten, The Quick drops its cloak and becomes a good old-fashioned vampire novel. . . . [It’s full of] wonderful inventions, while still providing the torn collars and hungry looks the genre demands. . . . What fun.The New York Times Book Review (Editor’s Choice)

Owen has created an intricate world in which the reader feels a part. Take the trip, if you dare, into a luscious Victorian London rendered by a gifted young British writer who seems weaned on equal parts Sherlock Holmes, Buffy Summers and Harry Potter.Shelf Awareness

An intricate, sinister epic . . . an impressive feat . . . Owen proves a master at anticipating readers’ thoughts about future happenings and then crumbling them into dust. Her world building is exceptional, and readers will simultaneously embrace and shrink from the atmosphere’s elegant ghastliness.Booklist

An elegantly written gothic epic . . . Owen’s soaring imagination and her light-handed take on magic save this story from being either obvious or boring. . . . The journey from one genre to another is satisfying and surprisingly fresh.Kirkus Reviews

Lauren Owen—a brand-new author with an M.A. in Victorian Literature—has produced her own mind-bending tour de force.Locus

A sly and glittering addition to the literature of the macabre . . . As soon as you have breathed with relief, much worse horrors begin. It’s a skilled, assured performance, and it’s hard to believe it is a first novel.Hilary Mantel, bestselling author of Wolf Hall and Bring Up the Bodies

A big, sly bucketful of the most tremendous fun . . . At first, The Quick seems like a really terrific, plain old tale of yesteryear—à la John Banville or Peter Carey or Eleanor Catton. . . . [But then] things begin to really rollick. . . . [Owen] weaves what’s here with what’s beyond as easily as J.K. Rowling does, and as with Rowling, she seems to feel particularly at home with the beyond.Slate

[An author of] prodigious gifts . . . Owen captures Dickens’s London with glee and produces a number of characters Dickens would be happy to call his own.Pittsburgh Post-Gazette

The Quick is ambitious in both scope and structure. . . . Her London is exquisitely detailed. . . . [Owen] inhabits the breadth and panorama of the Victorian tale.The Washington Post

The first quarter of this debut novel is a lovely, poetic tale. . . . The last half is entirely bonkers and totally unexpected. Read it with the lights on.The New Republic

Make no mistake, The Quick is good reading. . . . Adventure of the first order, firmly rooted in both the tropes of the genre and the skilfully rendered texture of the period . . . driven by sharp storytelling, thought-provoking ideas, and strong characters.The Globe and Mail

Like the best gothic fiction, this dark tale of manners and morals closely guards its secrets; over hundreds of pages, one unspoken word lurks in the corners of every character’s and reader’s mind. By the end of Owen’s precocious first novel, set in the narrow streets and cavernous interiors of Victorian England, you will understand viscerally how monsters are made and what it means to be human.More magazine

Lauren Owen is an impressive storyteller and with this ambitious debut, the literary world will soon take notice. Part gothic mystery, part Victorian romance, The Quick is a novel where the glamorous and the macabre collide. . . . With suspenseful rhythm and illustrious prose, Owen succeeds at crafting a fresh, enchanting portrait of Victorian London wrapped around an irresistible mystery that is at once beautiful and terrifying.Bustle

If you are a fan of literary Gothic—think Susanna Clarke or John Harwood—buy this book. You won’t regret it. . . . A long gallery of beautifully drawn characters makes the many pages of The Quick turn as swiftly as those of a Wilkie Collins novel.BookPage

The Quick is that rare book that reviewers and readers live for: both plot- and character-driven, a stay-up-all-night-reading romp of more than 500 pages that you’ll desperately wish was double that. This is elegant, witty, force-of-nature writing, and Lauren Owen should have a long and illustrious career ahead of her.The Dallas Morning News

The book’s energy, its wide reach and rich detail make it a confident example of the ‘unputdownable’ novel.The Economist

Ambitious, elegant, atmospheric, and often deeply poignant, The Quick is a seamless blend of Victorian London and rich imagination. This is a book to savor.Tana French, bestselling author of In the Woods and Broken Harbor

[A] creepy debut . . . a thrilling tale . . . This book will give you chills even on a hot day.Minneapolis Star Tribune

Forget Jack the Ripper—it’s the curiously pale aristocratic types you need to beware of in this supernatural Gothic nightmare. . . . Owen’s stylishly sinister world of betrayal and Lovecraftian monsters will have you sleeping with the lights on.O: The Oprah Magazine

“Ambitious, elegant, atmospheric, and often deeply poignant, The Quick is a seamless blend of Victorian London and rich imagination. This is a book to savor.”

Tana French, Edgar Award–winning author of In the Woods

“Reading the blurbs on the dust jacket of Lauren Owen’s first novel—from
such luminaries as Kate Atkinson, Hilary Mantel, and Tana French—readers
might think they’re about to embark on a high-handed version of the
Gothic novel, full of metafictions and literary allusions. These do
appear, along with some beautiful language, but by page one hundred, when the
first neck is about to be bitten, The Quick drops its cloak and
becomes a good old-fashioned vampire novel…[It’s full of]
wonderful inventions, while still providing the torn collars and hungry
looks the genre demands…What fun.”

New York Times Book Review

“The Quick is ambitious in both scope and structure…Her
London is exquisitely detailed…[Owen] inhabits the breadth and
panorama of the Victorian tale.”

Washington Post

“Debut author Owen sets her seductive book in 1892, in a late-Victorian
London with a serious vampire problem. And like her Victorian
counterparts, Owen depicts a host of characters…Owen’s sentence-by-sentence prose is extraordinarily polished…and she packs many surprises into
her tale, making it a book for readers to lose themselves in.”

Publishers Weekly (starred review)

“With her
startling plot, Owen proves a master at anticipating readers’ thoughts
about future happenings and then crumbling them into dust. Her world
building is exceptional, and readers will simultaneously embrace and
shrink from the atmosphere’s elegant ghastliness…An impressive feat.”

“An elegantly written gothic epic that begins with children isolated in a
lonely manor house; takes a spin through the velvet-draped salons of
late-Victorian literary London; then settles in to the bloody business
of an outbreak of evil magic…A book that seems to begin as a children’s story ends in blood-soaked
mayhem; the journey from one genre to another is satisfying and
surprisingly fresh considering that it’s set in a familiar version of
gothic London among equally familiar monsters.”

About the Author

Lauren Owen was born in 1986. She studied at Oxford University and the University of East Anglia, where she received the 2009 Curtis Brown Prize for the best fiction dissertation. The Quick is her first novel. She lives in Northern England.

About the Narrator

Simon Slater is an
English actor and composer. His film credits include Dealers and Entrapment.
His work as a theatrical actor includes a five-year run in the musical Mamma Mia! as Sam Charmichael. Slater
has made guest appearances in several television series, including Heartbeat, Birds of a Feather, Doctor
Who, Inspector Morse, Lovejoy, Monarch of the Glen, and Where
the Heart Is.

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